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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Federationists,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Read below for a message from legislative chair,
Carlos Servan and below for a letter sent to all members of the house of
representatives by Dr. Maurer.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>
<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center tabindex=-1>
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<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'> Cservan
[mailto:CSERVAN@NEB.RR.COM] <br>
<br>
</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=4 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Arial'>We need to contact our three <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U. S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
representative and ask them to sign on H.R. 3086. Below is a letter that
Dr. Maurer wrote and you could use it <font color=navy><span style='color:navy'>as
an example and </span></font>sign<font color=navy><span style='color:navy'> </span></font>your
name.</span></font></b></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=4 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Arial'>Below is the contact information:</span></font></b></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=4 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Arial'>Jeff Fortenberry</span></font></b></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=4 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Arial'> 1515 Longworth
House Office</span></font></b></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=4 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Arial'> <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Washington</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">DC</st1:State>
<st1:PostalCode w:st="on">20515</st1:PostalCode></st1:place></span></font></b></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=4 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Arial'> (202) 225-4806</span></font></b></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=4 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Arial'>Lee Terry</span></font></b></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=4 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Arial'> 2331 Rayburn
HOB </span></font></b></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=4 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Arial'> <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Washington</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">DC</st1:State>
<st1:PostalCode w:st="on">20515</st1:PostalCode></st1:place>
</span></font></b></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=4 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Arial'> (202) 225-4155</span></font></b></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=4 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Arial'>Adrian Smith</span></font></b></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=4 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Arial'> 503 Canon HOB</span></font></b></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=4 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Arial'> <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Washington</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">DC</st1:State>
<st1:PostalCode w:st="on">20515</st1:PostalCode></st1:place></span></font></b></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=4 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Arial'> (202)
225-6435</span></font></b></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=4 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Arial'>44 representative have signed and we need to keep the
momentum!</span></font></b></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>----- Original Message ----- <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<blockquote style='margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt' cite="" type=cite>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>From: "Freeh, Jessica" <<a href="mailto:JFreeh@nfb.org">JFreeh@nfb.org</a>><br>
To: "<a href="mailto:dandrews@visi.com">dandrews@visi.com</a>" <<a
href="mailto:dandrews@visi.com">dandrews@visi.com</a>><br>
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2012 07:56:51 -0800<br>
Subject: please post on all listservs<br>
Thread-Topic: please post on all listservs<br>
Thread-Index: AczzDNloaZYGeh1lQGutoG9QUzUy9g==<br>
<br>
February 23, 2012<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Dear United States Representative:<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
I am writing to you in support of H.R. 3086, the Fair Wages for Workers with
Disabilities Act of 2011. If you are already one of the cosponsors of
this bill, I thank you. If you have not signed on as a cosponsor, I urge
you to do so as quickly as you can. I am also writing to you representing
disabled Americans who are affected by subminimum wage payments who want this
bill to pass. Furthermore, I am writing to you to sound the alarm against
those who say that they know better what to do for the disabled than disabled
Americans themselves. They will tell you that disabled Americans cannot
speak for themselves and that they have taken on “this
burden.” They are trying to deny us our own voice in Congress and
we ask you to listen to the people, not to the self-appointed so-called
spokesmen of the people. <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
The National Federation of the Blind and the growing list of over forty other
organizations of disabled Americans that support this legislation are well
aware that those of you who are cosponsoring this legislation or considering
doing so are receiving considerable pressure from representatives of sheltered
workshops and others holding special wage certificates that allow them to pay
less than the federal minimum wage. You are being told that the workers
who receive subminimum wages in the sheltered workshop system have nowhere else
to go, and that their lives would be destroyed by H.R. 3086. Those of you
from <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Missouri</st1:place></st1:State>,
in fact, may have received a piece of correspondence that asks, “Where
will Sammy, Patti, and Becky go when you eliminate their jobs?”
This flyer also contains quotes from parents, siblings, and caregivers of
sheltered workshop employees, wondering what H.R. 3086 will mean for their loved
ones. <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Wh<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />atever the motives
of the people behind it, the correspondence is based on outdated ideas about
the capacity of workers with disabilities and a misguided commitment to an
antiquated model of service to such workers. Rather than participating in
a constructive dialogue about what life will be like for workers with
disabilities, once the subminimum wage exemption is phased out in three years
as required by H.R. 3086, the workshops choose to circulate correspondence
meant to pull on your heartstrings, to evoke your pity, and to promote low
expectations. <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
The argument of the sheltered workshops is that some people, particularly those
with severe developmental disabilities, are simply unfit for competitive
employment. This is simply wrong. To continue this practice when
proven employment strategies exist is inexcusable. <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
We are also told that these individuals must be given a choice. We are
all for freedom of choice, but true freedom of choice can only come with
unbiased and accurate information. Do Sammy, Patti, and Becky know that
people like them are in fact working in competitive jobs? Do they know
that services like supported employment are already available to help them
acquire and keep such jobs? Do their parents, guardians, and loved ones
know this? My experience tells me that they do not. Rather, they have far
more likely been told by sheltered workshop staffwho all too often share
society’s low expectations for disabled people and have an obvious
conflict of interestthat Sammy, Patti, and Becky will never achieve
competitive employment and that the sheltered workshop is the best they can
hope for. In short, what they have been told is neither accurate nor
unbiased. <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Despite the manipulative tone of the correspondence, however, it is fair enough
to ask what will happen to Sammy, Patti, and Becky and others like them if this
bill passes. I believe that the answer to this question is limited only
by the spirit, ambition, and imagination of disabled workers themselves, and by
our willingness as a society to work hard to help them succeed in their
goals. I believe that disabled workers can do far better than receiving
pennies per hour. Under this bill, they will either earn real wages in
the workshops that currently employ them, or they will receive the training and
support that they need to obtain competitive employment somewhere else.
Imagine for a moment that all of the government and philanthropic resources
that are currently supporting the sheltered workshop system were redirected to
finding real employment opportunities for people with disabilities. If
they were, I suspect that solutions as yet undreamt of would emerge to help
such individuals succeed in competitive employment situations. <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
The sheltered workshop industry has existed for over seventy years. Many
argue that it is an acceptable status quo, which must not be changed. We
reject this formulation. Even if you believe that those of us advocating
against subminimum wages do not have all the answers, this is no excuse for
allowing the system to continue. The current practice of paying
subminimum wages is unfair, discriminatory, and immoral, and no amount of hand-wringing
about what may follow it can change that. Please do not simply let
inertia direct our course. We are urging you and other willing partners,
including any from the sheltered workshop industry, to work with us to find
real solutions for people like Sammy, Patti, and Becky, rather than shrugging
your shoulders and saying that the exploitation must continue because we as a
society will not expend the effort to come up with anything better. <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
There was a time in our nation’s history when African-Americans were
believed to have limited capacity and were fit only for slave labor on
plantations. There was a time when women were thought capable only of
maintaining the family home, and thus were not even permitted to vote.
Fortunately we realized as a nation that it was bigotry and low expectations
that were defining the roles of African-Americans and women rather than their
true capabilities. We realized, albeit belatedly, that America would be a
better nation if the true capacities of these citizens were unleashed.
Americans with disabilities are now calling upon our fellow citizens to realize
that the soft bigotry of low expectations is condemning workers with
disabilities to near-slave labor, and that the system that arises from these
low expectations must be abolished. <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
H.R. 3086 allows for a grace period of three years before sheltered workshops
and other nonprofit employers currently holding special wage certificates must
begin to pay their workers at least the federal minimum wage. This is
plenty of time for sheltered workshops to study the business models of similar
entities that are already paying their employees competitive wages and make
adjustments to their own policies and practices. Meanwhile, policy makers
can redirect resources to enhance programs like supported employment, and
create new solutions, to help workers with disabilities transition to real work
for real wages. <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
As for freedom of choice: I am a person with a disability. I have been
blind all of my life. I know the pain and despair that comes with low
expectations and prejudice. Fortunately, I was given the opportunity to
make real choices about my life and career, and to experience the joy of the
accomplishments that can only come through full and equal participation in
society. I want Sammy, Patti, and Becky to have the choices that I
had. If workers with disabilities truly want to stay in the sheltered
workshop that currently employs them, or a facility like it, then no one will
prohibit them from doing so. However, if H.R. 3086 is enacted, wherever
they choose to work, they will receive real wages that allow them to live
fuller lives. They will know the satisfaction of receiving the equal pay
for equal work that they deserve, in addition to any satisfaction that they may
receive from getting out of the house and being among their friends. They
will no longer be dependent upon the resources of their loved ones or on public
assistance in order to buy the things they need. They will have
disposable income to spend in the community, thereby contributing to our
society and its economy. They will go from a subsistent existence to one
in which they can enjoy taking in a movie with their friends, an occasional
restaurant meal, and all of the other small pleasures of life that other
American workers take for granted. They will become free people with real
choices, not virtual slaves with false ones. <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On behalf of the National Federation of the Blind, the over forty other
organizations that support this bill, and the millions of disabled people we
represent, we urge you to join us in our effort to change the paradigm of low
expectations and kindly meant but devastating exploitation that has too long
dominated the lives of over three hundred thousand Americans with disabilities.
We ask you to express the courage to support H.R. 3086 and the creativity to
seek solutions that allow Americans with disabilities to become productive
citizens. I thank you for your attention to this urgent matter. <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Sincerely,<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<img border=0 width=156 height=36 id="_x0000_i1025"
src="cid:7.1.0.9.2.20120224193158.01579d80@visi.com.1" alt="[]"><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Marc Maurer, President<br>
<br>
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</blockquote>
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